Iran executes three Afghan bandits
Tehran, Feb 25, IRNA -- Three Afghan bandits were hanged in public in
Khorassan province bordering the major drug producer Afghanistan
Sunday, a press report said.
    The evening daily Kayhan reported that the three were sentenced to
death by hanging by a revolution court after being arraigned by the
court for involvement in drug trade.
    Earlier in the day, police said they had killed five armed Afghan
bandits and arrested 145 others in this province over the past several
days.
    Armed bandits are involved in kidnapping, drug trade, and
hostage-taking in provincial villages.
    Iran is a major transit route for drugs from Afghanistan and
Pakistan to the West.
    Last July, the Iranian authorities started constructing outposts
and a barbed wire fence with electronic monitoring devices along the
945-kilometer (587-mile) border with Afghanistan. A budget of 200
billion rials (dlrs 25 million) has been allocated for the project.
    Last month, Secretary-General of Iran's Anti-Drug Headquarters
Mohammad Fallah said that 3,000 Iranian police officers had been
killed in drug-related battles throughout the country since 1981. The
scourge of the international drug trade is felt even more when one
considers the high price the country has paid in order to wipe out
narcotics trafficking.
    In 1999 alone 740 drug dealers were killed and 174 Iranian police
officers lost their lives in clashes with armed smugglers in various
parts of the country./